A recent study by the Gallup association shows there is a striking decrease in Americans who accept the Bible as literally true and a significant increase in those who believe it is absent of divine influence.
Sociology
There has been a radical chance in lifespans
- In 1900, 75% of people in the United States died BEFORE they reached age 65.
- Today more than 70% percent of people die AFTER age 65.
What has changed?
Have the world become more religious?
Has the amount of prayer, Bible reading, or church attendance increased?
Have the amount of conversions to the Christian faith increased?
Nope.
We developed new technologies, medicines, surgeries, vaccines, and other forms of science. Incidentally, many of the more fundamentalist religious people who argue that health is a gift from God have strong anti-science tendencies, yet they are benefit from science.
Americans claim the Bible is Gods word, don’t read it
- 4 in 5 Americans are Christians and believe that the Bible is Gods word. (1)
- Yet only 1 in 5 Americans (including Christians AND and people of other faiths/atheists/agnostics) have read the whole Bible. (2)
What a tragic fact, in my opinion, regardless of your religious views, reading through the whole Bible should be a requirement for our society where the vast majority of people claim to have moral values that are founded on the Bible.
In related news, atheists and agnostics tend to know the bible as good as most Christian, and even better than other groups of Christians. (3)
Muslims claim to have more answered prayers than Christians
There are more Muslims who claim to have frequently answered prayers than Christians and Jews.
In fact, the older the religion, the lower number of answered prayers are claimed.
Halloween has been rebranded and celebrated by Christians over a thousand years
Halloween has been rebranded and celebrated by Christians over a thousand years, though certainly many traditions have changed.
“In the 7th century AD, Pope Boniface IV established “All Saints’ Day” … in the following century, perhaps in an effort to supplant the pagan holiday with a Christian observance, it was moved to November 1. The evening before All Saints’ Day became a holy, or *hallowed eve* and thus Halloween.”
This likely happened because Christian missionaries often re-branded ancient pagan holidays to better spread their message.
There is even a letter sent Pope Gregory I in the 6th century, in which he suggested that existing places of non-Christian worship be adopted and consecrated to serve a Christian purpose which is evidence this was a common Christian method, for quite some time now.
(Though I know people who think only this current generation of Christians “compromises” by “taking things from the world” and “trying to make it Christian.”)
See more here: http://www.yuriyandinna.com/the-historic-facts-about-halloween-you-probably-dont-know/
The more “cult-like” the religious group, the faster their growth
The Christian(ish) denominations that grow the fastest tend to be the most hyper-conservative and some have even been described as somewhat cult-like.
More religious countries show less innovation
According to a recent Princeton study regarding the number of patents filed per person across the world, there is a strong correlation between religiosity and less innovation. (1)
As studies go, this is a very rigorous correlation study (that controlled for population, education, socio-economic factors, and more alternative reasons) though this does not 100% prove causation.
Life expectancy changes over the last 200 years
Did you know that you are severely lucky to be living today? With the advent of (medical, sanitation, logistical, agricultural) technology humans were able radically increase life expectancy over the last few centuries.
The average life expectancy two hundred years ago was below 40, today it’s in the high 70’s. Take a look at this very short video, it might just blow your mind.
Mormonism shares many unsusual historical features with Christianity
Mormonism shares a great many historical characteristics and key themes with Christianity. Certainly the doctrines have radical differences, but the epistemology and spirituality is very much the same. Is it time to welcome Mormons as fellow Christians?
Many African Christians are are religiously motivated to abuse, torture, or kill children for “witchcraft”
Some of the African converts to Christianity, whom you may see on television during a large evangelistic crusade go back to their local towns and practice very dangerous version of Christianity.
According to numerous human rights agencies, there have been tens (if not hundreds) of thousands of children who were abused, tortured, or killed, by a strange kind of Pentecostal/Charismatic “Christians” for the accusations of witchcraft.
For example, “the officials in one northern Angolan town identified 432 street children who had been abandoned or abused after being called witches. A report last year by the government’s National Institute for the Child and the United Nations Children’s Fund described the number of children said to be witches as “massive.”(1, 2, 3, 4, 5
The perpetrators of this abuse, who consider themselves Christians, pastors, prophets often mix in Old Testament theology, which commands the murder of witches (Exodus 22:18), with local African superstition. The moral of the story is that certain kinds of theology can be very dangerous.
Facts about Religion 